Page 23 of Saved By the Servali

“Are you feeling better, Nessa?” Wendy asked in her ever-sweet voice. “Do you want someone to sit with you during your calls? I mean, besides Rupex and Talos?”

Nessa’s eyes traveled between the Leonid and Tigerite. “Um. No. I’ll be fine.”

Kamau kept his ears aloft with an effort.If she were mine, she’d want me with her. This proves it. Last night was only physical—and I should have resisted.

“HI, DAD.” NESSA SMILEDinto the screen.

Her dad’s clouded eyes stared vacantly back. “Ness?”

“Yep.”

“Where have you been, sweetie? Didn’t call your old man on the weekend like you always do.”

“I know, I know, but did you get my message yesterday? I called you as soon as I could.”

Confusion washed over his face. He finally grunted, “Mhm.”

“You must have been so worried.”

“About what?”

Nessa bit her lip. Like many families on Sapien-Three, her parents had not been able to afford a child until they were older. Her father had been in his early forties, and he was now in his late seventies, a miraculous age for anyone but the wealthiest. Living in a chemical haze had definitely aged him mentally and physically, but Nessa had to bite back tears when he said, “About what?”

As soon as she could speak clearly, she’d asked to call her aging father, but he hadn’t answered. Imagining it was night on Sapien-Three, she hadn’t worried and simply left a message saying she was fine and would call back to explain whathappened in more detail. She’d assumed he’d already heard from the MWIP or the police that she was missing.

“Didn’t someone from work call you and tell you I was missing?”

“Uhhh. Oh! There was some awfully angry fella who sent a bunch of comms. Said you were gone for more than three days without calling in and you were fired. I figured he had the wrong girl. My Nessa is too responsible for that.”

“Fired!? I was kidnapped!”

“What?” Her father’s eyes bugged out, and he grasped his chest. “Kidnapped! Hold on, baby girl. I’m getting on a transport shuttle right—”

“Daddy. Dad, sit down! You can’t come and get me—I’m in another galaxy.”

“What?” Her father staggered back into his chair. “Honey...”

“I’m fine. Very fine. I’m rescued, okay? And I’ll be back home in a couple of weeks, I promise.” As she said the words, she knew they were true. Felix Orbus was just a vacation. It could be a lifestyle... if not for her dad. “Dad, why don’t you come live at the port base with me? You know I ask every year! Your pension and my pay—we could get a two-room place.”

“I am not going up on no shuttle! Your—”

“—Uncle Abraxton died in a shuttle explosion. I know, I know. I just worry about you living in St. Albany alone. Do you even leave the apartment?”

“I don’t. And I’m not the one who got kidnapped and fired, now am I?” Her father sat back and crossed his arms with a smug grin, sharp and lucid again.

Well. He has a point there.

“I think they’ll give me my job back once I explain what happened and law enforcement gets involved, Dad.”

“Fine... But if a job can’t even tell you’ve been kidnapped and just thinks you’re playing hooky, I don’t think they’re much of ajob. You used to be so excited to work at that place, but I haven’t heard you say one good word about the port in months. Maybe years.”

“That’s true, but it pays, and everything is convenient. Guaranteed housing and way less pollution than on Sapien-Three. If I did get another job,” Nessa spoke slowly, a persistent thought nudging her when it had no business doing so, “I might look at putting my contract up in another galaxy. I really like Felix Orbus.”

“What about those cat-men? They have big teeth. I heard they ate some girl all up!” Her father smacked his cane on the floor and waved his wrinkled hand over his smooth, bald head so violently that his glasses fell into his lap.

“Maybe they meant to say ate her out,” Nessa mumbled under her breath.

“Ate her what?”

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